Would You Get Fired If You Treated Your Job Like You Treat Your Body?

I was having a conversation the other day with a couple of ladies, about a wide variety of topics. When we got to the health conversation, the main complaints were:

I don’t have time

I get stuck at work and can’t make it to the gym on time

It’s too expensive (the most common one)

I don’t spend that kind of money on health stuff

I don’t think a personal trainer is worth that kind of money, I would rather save it to go on vacation every year.

My usual self would start lecturing them on why it was important to make taking care of themselves a habit, but this time I didn't. I stayed quiet and observed. All these women were very disciplined at work. Heck, they don’t even work for me, but I would hire them because they're amazing employees. They show up 15 to 30 minutes before time, they go above and beyond, they get promoted, they put in overtime, and some of them take time off around their boss’ schedule. Observing this kind of dedication got me thinking, If your boss were your body, what kind of performance review would you get?

Would you get promoted?

Would you get a warning?

Would you get fired?

If you're already taking great care of your body, you definitely would get a promotion. If you're not too happy with the person in the mirror what would your body — I mean, your boss — say to you? A wise boss wouldn’t fire you right away; she'd give you a warning. I suppose this warning would go something like this:

“(Insert your name) we at body enterprise like to see our employees succeed and be the best that they can be. I received a few complaints about your performance and I called you in my office to address those complaints (picture the complaints as test results: high cholesterol, high sugar, high blood pressure, or a picture of you today, eeekkk… ). Look (insert your name here) I'm not going to beat around the bush; you were a great employee when you started. You exercised all the time, and you were eating the right stuff. Now I am trying to understand what happened to you. You

Skip breakfast in the morning or stop by some fast food chain on your way to work.

You keep complaining about your weight as well as what you know you need to do about it.

You have time for Facebook, Instagram but not your work.

You keep canceling or coming up with excuses every time you have training (that would be your personal trainer sessions or group fitness class).

So (insert your name here), I'm letting you know that you need to improve today, and this is a formal warning."

I don’t know if you’ve ever been fired from a job, or you sense that you'll get fired and hurry to find another job so you can say, “I QUIT” before you hear, “YOU’RE FIRED.” Either way, you know when things aren't doing well at work. You also know when you've let yourself down.

The point I am trying to make here is that the same way you value your job, even if you hate it and are just doing it for a paycheck, is the same way you should value your body. Here are some of the ways you can continue the analogy to reach a state of optimal health:

You show up for work (exercise).

You follow the rules (eat healthy 80% of the time).

You don’t talk trash to your boss every day (stop with the junk food already).

You put in overtime when you want to accomplish something with that extra money (be consistent and stay focused on your goal).

You only take the amount of vacation time you’re allowed every year (why in the world or you paying this gym membership every month and not showing up?).

So think about it: How much different would your body be if you treated it like a job?